To highlight the annual campaign, CITC is delivering a number of activations involving staff, participants and key stakeholders, alongside hosting a Mental Health Awareness Week event on Friday 17th May at the Etihad Stadium.
Community Mentoring Manager, Jason El-Kaleh said: “Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) gives CITC another opportunity to highlight the importance of work in this area.
“The theme for this year’s MHAW is ‘moving more for our mental health’, an area which we are passionate about at CITC, with all of our programmes aiming to empower healthier lives through football.
“Although these conversations are important all-year-round, weeks like this give us a unique opportunity to bring these to the forefront of people’s minds.”
CITC’s mental health programme, City Thrive, is split into two main areas: school workshops and one-to-one mentoring (Primary Care Network Mentoring) (PCN).
The PCN mentoring programme, in partnership with the NHS, CAMHS RMCH, is for young people aged between eight and 18 that present with mild to moderate mental health needs.
Young people are referred directly onto the programme in CITC by specialist practitioners, based within their local GP.
The PCN mentoring offer involves eight to 10 weeks of 1-2-1 mentoring, providing support and guidance to achieve a positive mental health outcome for each young person.
One participant on the PCN programme said: “The mentoring sessions have been good because I have had someone to talk to and they have helped me with my health a lot. The sessions were really fun, and [my mentor] was really nice and helpful.”
City Thrive, which is also in partnership with the NHS, has been delivered by CITC since 2020 and was first launched as a response to the COVID 19 pandemic.
The programme aims to promote positive mental health for young people aged eight to 18.
Classroom based sessions harness the power of football to normalise stigmatised conversations around mental health subjects through a mixture of educational workshops and one-to-one mentoring.
A dedicated team developed a mental health curriculum, combining specially adapted football sessions and group workshops on mental health awareness to improve mental wellbeing.
If you have been impacted by any of the content in this post and wish to reach out, please contact your GP for further support, or email citc@cityfootball.com.
City in the Community empowers healthier lives with city youth through football.
To find out more, visit www.mancity.com/CITC or follow the charity on social media @CITCmancity.
